The Aftermath of Day 3
by Runnerload
Summary: My own little Prequel to Season Four
1. Chapter 1

The Shadow of the Day

_Summary: My story bridges the gap between Season Three and Four, it directly picks up after the Finale of Season Three, Tony is in jail at the beginning and Michelle tries to continue to live her Life as good as possible._

_Pairings: definitely Tony & Michelle and maybe a little bit Jack & Kate_

Chapter One: Memories

We are at the Los Angeles Federal Prison, were all kinds of criminals are held behind heavy grey metal bars: murderers, kidnappers, drug dealers and Tony Almeida, the former director of the CTU LA Branch who is now in prison for committing treason against the United States of America. Just a couple of hours before he was at CTU with his lovely wife Michelle, where he was later detained in a Interrogation Room, like he was a dangerous terrorist. He knew exactly what he was doing when he helped a terrorist escape, to ensure the safety of his wife, losing his job didn't concern him a bit: Only that his wife would live after this was all that mattered to him. In his thoughts the last moment with Michelle played back:

"Tony..." Was all Michelle could get out as she saw her husband been put into handcuffs in front of her because she was very close to cry.

"Shh, it's okay I know what I did but I did it to save you, and if I must go to prison I can live with that." Quickly as that thought came, he banned it from his mind and tried to busy his mind with things that would make him happy. His eyes wandered around the room, that would be his home for the next 20 years but unfortunately he had to share his cell with a kidnapper this whole time he would spent behind metal bars. Meanwhile on the other side of city, Michelle was working at her desk at CTU LA where it was a normal work day. No terror plots threatened the Security of the US but the Division had sent over a temporary replacement for Tony: Kelly Sharpton, who was Chief of Staff at the Division Headquarters in Los Angeles. Brad Hammond had taken over Ryan Chappelles Position as Director of the Division Headquarters. Michelle still was the Chief of Staff at the CTU, slowly but surely she didn't like that job anymore and she didn't want to work in this environment no more after what happened today. For her it was a very easy decision to make, she would search for a new job outside of LA, with Tonys permission of course, because she couldn't leave the man she still loved so much alone in LA when he wouldn't agree with her decision to leave LA. Jack leaves meanwhile an Interrogation Room where he moments ago finished the interrogation of a man that carried one of the deadly virus vials to the hotel an LA, he goes up to the office of Kelly Sharpton to bring him up to speed about what he got from Rabens henchman. As he reaches the transparent door to the office of the temporary CTU Director Sharpton, he politely knocks on the door and waits for an answer from inside.

„Come in" Comes the answer from Sharpton, as he sees Jack standing behind the door of the director office. Jack enters the office, closes the door behind him and says: "Heres my report of the Interrogation am I done here Director?" You could clearly see on Jacks face that he was really tired after this very stressful crisis but he would never admit that, because it was a sign of weakness for him.

"Agent Bauer you look very tired what's understandable after this very long work day. You're done here for today, now drive home and get some rest; if something urgent comes up I call you." Jack only nods leaves Sharpton Office and goes to a desk near Michelle's to get some personal things of him. As Michelle sees Jack coming to her and standing at a desk nearby she only gives him a short glance, and can't quite decide to hate him or to recognize, that Jack did the right thing by sending her back into Saunders custody. If he wouldn't have done that, Saunders wouldn't have got a reason to come to the meeting point, still it was hard to cope for her with the fact that Tony had committed treason against his country to save the Life of her. Michelle finally got back her work; she still had a report for the temporary Director of CTU to finish. After he got some things out of his desk, Jack goes straight for the exit of the CTU but then stops and glances back at the big bullpen one last time before he exits the building. He is still a bit shaken from all the things that happened in the last hours, but tries his best to put his mind at rest for the moment, gets in his car and drives off the CTU grounds. Later at the same day the new shift comes in to replace the people that prevented the release of a deadly virus into population of Los Angeles.

Glad to finally get home, Michelle logs out at her workstation and decides to finish the report for Sharpton tomorrow. She gets up from her workstation, gets her purse out of her desk and heads for the exit.

AN: So that's the first Chapter of my story, I hope you like it and any suggestions to improve my story are totally welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Visiting Tony

Michelle finally arrived home, it was very difficult for her to accept, that she would be alone in this house for a long time. She brought her car to a halt, got the car key out of the ignition and made her way to hers and Tony's house after she closed the car with the key. Finally she got inside the house, closed the door behind her and sighed: _ This can't be! I just can't live here in this house without Tony for the next twenty years, that's definitely too much time. _

She got into the living, and couldn't think of anything else than Tony, when her eyes wandered around the room and that was enough for to let her emotions finally out. All the tears that she had held back for the last couple of hours started to flow down her cheeks now because she felt so lost without the man she still loved so much. She stayed there with her head leaned on the couch, and lying on her back crying a lot what caused her make up to be messed up but that point she didn't she care about that. Later it was thirteen o'clock, almost afternoon as sleep finally got hold of Michelle still wearing the clothes of the day. Meanwhile on the end of LA, Jack also lay in his bed and tried his best to sleep a little after this stressful day but at the moment he wasn't so successful with that. He tossed and turned in his bed a couple of times because it was very difficult to put his mind at rest, after all the things that happened today. On his back he laid there a couple of minutes and tried the best he could to busy his mind with some happy thoughts that helped him to finally get some rest. Later he successfully drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face and waiting for the new day.

Finally the new day began; Michelle woke up on the couch and sighed as she realizes that she is still wearing the clothes from the other day. She goes upstairs into to bathroom to take a quick shower and then put on some fresh new clothes. On the other end of the city, Jack meanwhile gets himself ready to leave for CTU, where a new work day begins for him after his best friend was put into jail. A couple of minutes later, Jack has arrived at the CTU and gets greeted by Sam Grofy: "Hey Jack, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing good Sam, thanks for asking. Has Division sent over a new director yet?"

"Yes they have Jack, and she wants to speak to you in an hour but she didn't go into details."

"Ok thanks for informing me."

Jack looks upstairs to the office of the director of CTU and wonders about what he or she is going to speak about with him. He quickly takes his view from the director office away as someone is coming from there down the stairs to the bullpen. As she reaches Jacks position she extends a hand to him and says: "I assume you're Jack, my Name is Erin Driscoll and I am the new head of CTU LA and we have some important matters to discuss."

"Yes I am and I want to know now, about you want to talk about with me."

"Not now Mister Bauer, because I still have to get some other important things done before I can handle your case is that understood?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Thank you for your patience and I see you in an hour up in my office."

Back at Michelle's and Tony's House, Michelle is now ready to leave the house to get for the last time to CTU. She then gets into to hers and Tony's room, grabs her laptop out of her night desk, switches it on and then starts to write her resignation letter. Later as she has almost reached the CTU building, she can't go in there to give the resignation letter personally to the new director because the pain is still too severe for her. The Address was wrote on the envelope so she got out of her car, threw the letter into the mailbox got back into her car and drove off without looking back at the place she used to work at. She then decided to pay Tony a visit in the federal prison, because she so eagerly wanted to see him and she had to talk about something that was very important for both of them. Twenty Minutes later, Michelle finally brought her car at the federal prison of LA, took the key out of the ignition and closed her car with the key, before heading to the entrance of the prison.

As she got inside, she directly walked to a reception desk where a security guard was sitting behind. She got her ID out of her purse, showed it to the guard and said: "My name is Michelle Dessler; I am here to see my husband Tony Almeida." The Guard took the ID from Michelle, checked her on his PC and then said: "Ok, please come with me Ms. Dessler." With a key card he opened a door at the end of long hallway, which leads directly to the cells. Finally Michelle and the Guard reached the visitor area, and the guard then left to get Tony out of his cell so he could see his wife. A couple of minutes later, accompanied by the guard Tony was led into the visitor area and smiled a little bit as he saw his wife standing on the other side of the glass. The guard then left to give them some time alone and Tony was so happy to see Michelle that he wanted to kiss and hug her very tight, but the truth was that he couldn't do that because of the big glass wall like thing that separated them from each other. Michelle sat herself down on a chair, and then both of them raised their hands and touched the glass and pretended of a couple of minutes that they were holding hands. Michelle then finally broke the silence between them: ´"God, I miss you so much, I must say it's a little creepy to me to sleep in this big bed at home alone." She said when she had put the telephone to her ear and patiently waited for her husband's response.

"I miss you too sweetheart, but we are going to be again soon I promise."

"I know, I really hope it doesn't going to take twenty years to live you together again."

Her eyes were starting to get watery, but she tried her best to the tears with her hand away but she couldn't prevent one tear from falling down her cheek.

"Don't cry baby, everything is going to be all right and I will be out of here before you know it. But let's change the subject: How's work at CTU going?"

"I quit my job at CTU today."

"What? Why did you do that?"

"Because, it's too difficult for me to work there and I want to search a job outside of LA." Tony couldn't really believe what he had heard before, but as he thought this whole thing trough he wasn't a great fan of the Idea. Finally he spoke to his wife, after he had almost dropped the telephone because of the shock of the news she had broke to him.

"I really don't know what to say about this Michelle, but I want you to be happy and if working outside of LA makes you that, I can live with that even if it will be hard to know that you don't live so close to me anymore." She started to cry again and couldn't stop it this time. After a couple of minutes she had gathered herself again and said: "Thank you for being so understanding Tony, I really appreciate that and promise me to not forget one thing."

"What's that honey?"

"No matter what happens I will always love you."

"Promise and I love you too sweetheart."

They then continued to talk about anything that came to their minds till Michelle then finally made her way home, even if Tony didn't want her to leave and she so eagerly wanted to stay here with him. She got in her car and saw in the mirror that her eyes were red and wiped some last tears away with her hand. Even he hadn't said it to her Michelle knew that Tony wasn't happy with her decision but knew that he couldn't persuade her to let go of this whole thing. Finally she drove off the prison grounds and made her way home, where she would search for a new job away from LA.

AN: So that's Chapter Two, I hope you liked and please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Going to Seattle

After searching for a new job outside of LA for a couple of hours at home, Michelle finally gave it up as she had found not a single job outside of LA that nearly matched her qualification and had nothing to do with the government. She lay the newspaper from today back on the table in the living room , sat down on the couch and sighed to herself. Was it really so difficult to find a job outside of LA, that had nothing to do with the government. Now that she didn't find a normal job somewhere outside of LA, her plan b had to work, she had today called the Head of CTU Seattle and he said that he would call her when they had a free job for her.

Bill Buchanan, the head of CTU Seattle had sounded really nice on the phone and Michelle would be definitely very happy if she could work at CTU Seattle. She then grabbed the newspaper again and read through some interesting articles, but suddenly she was interrupted by her phone ringing, so she immediately got up from the couch and picked up the phone:

"Michelle Dessler."

"Miss Dessler here is Bill Buchanan from CTU Seattle and I have good news for you: As the Job of the Chief of Staff here at Seattle recently has become vacant, we are searching urgently for a replacement."

Michelle was very excited to hear that, maybe working at CTU would help her to forget the horrible events that happened at the time being. She then answered happily: "That's very great News Mister Buchanan, when can I start to work?" On the other end of the line, Buchanan was happy that Miss Dessler had accepted the Job offer and after thinking about her question a little bit he answered:

"You can start tomorrow, your workstation is already completely set up for you."

"Ok Mister Buchanan, thanks for calling." Michelle then hung up, and then put the wireless phone back into loading station.

Meanwhile back at CTU LA Jack Bauer finally entered the office of the Head of CTU, which was now Erin Driscoll, he closed the door behind him and said: "You wanted to see me?"

Driscoll finally looks up from her papers and then says to Jack:

"Jack, please have a seat." Jack sits down and then attempts to start a little Smalltalk with Driscoll:

"So how are you settling in up here? If you need something just tell me."

"It takes some time, change always does. Jack, I'm removing you as the head of Field Ops."

"I don't understand, where do you want me to go?" Jack says because he can't really believe what he just has been told by the head of CTU LA. Driscoll then finally says with a emotionless expression on her face:

"That's up to you, I decided that you're a liability I don't want to care about:"

"Please explain, why I am a liability."

"I can look past all the off book behavior, that was documented over the last five years but I can't look past your addiction to heroin."

"Yeah, but I haven't touched anything since I entered the program." But Driscoll isn't satisfied with that so she ends the meeting with: "It's still a vulnerability, I'm sorry Jack I don't tolerate any weaknesses that's not how I work."

"I understand that."

Before Jack leaves the office she says: "I made some calls, which can help you to get a position." But Jack fiercely declines Driscoll's offer and leaves her office to get downstairs to his desk. He then packs all his personal things and quickly gets out of the building. He gives the security guy at the entrance to the CTU building his CTU badge, and his weapon and then gets in his car and drives of the CTU grounds. Back at Michelle Dessler's house, where all over the place big card boxes with personal things stood, Michelle was packing some last things that were very important to her in a still open card box which stood in front of a book shelve in her living room. Her and Tony's house had been already sold, for a good prize by a estate agent Michelle knew personally from her days at high school. Tomorrow she would be leaving LA and wouldn't return to it for a long time at least till she was over the terrible events that had happened to her. She still had the hope that Tony maybe could get earlier out of prison with a presidential pardon but at the moment it didn't look that, that was going to happen but the hope dies last.

_One Month later_

Jack Bauer pulled up to a driveway of a big very unique looking house, two men in black suits wearing dark sunglasses were standing in front of it. Jack had to pull his ID out of his pocket before he could pass the two security guards. One Month after he had been fired by Erin Driscoll he was now working for the Secretary of Defense James Heller. Heller's Daughter Audrey Raines, who was still married to Paul Raines even if they lived separated for a couple of weeks now greeted Jack as she saw him in the entrance of the house and said:

"My father is waiting for you upstairs Jack."

"Thanks Audrey." Audrey and Jack had become good friends over the month Jack worked for James Heller, and Jack even found Audrey quite attractive but since she was still married he couldn't make a move on her. Jack was happy to have a new job, but the rest of his life made him very miserable at the moment: He had lost his Job at CTU and hardly had any contact with his daughter Kim which very depressed him. If he could he would turn back time and then he would have a happy family again, but now he just had himself. The most time he spent with work for Secretary Heller and occasionally called his daughter, who was living in Santa Monica with Chase who she was engaged with. His relationship hadn't been the same since he had told Kim that he had been fired from CTU because of his addiction to heroin, Jack even had to admit to himself that he hadn't been a good role model for his daughter in the last months. Jack then finally reached Heller's office, the Secretary motioned him to sit down and they discussed some important matters with one another.

_AN: Sorry I didn't update in such a long time, but I had a total writers block. Please review_


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